


the notice

by gotham_ruaidh



Series: Gotham Writes for Imagine Claire & Jamie [120]
Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 09:27:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19170451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gotham_ruaidh/pseuds/gotham_ruaidh
Summary: Imagine when Brianna tells Jamie and Claire that Frank knew about the death notice





	the notice

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted at [Imagine Claire & Jamie](https://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/post/185452865065/anonymous-asked-i-would-love-to-read-your-take) on tumblr

Jamie Fraser rolled away the tightness in his shoulders, yawning as he walked the final dozen or so paces to the cabin.

Brianna and Murtagh were on the porch, folding the linens Claire had left out to dry over the railing.

“Hallo – the house!”

His daughter looked up, smiling brightly. “Just in time! Mama was wondering if you’d make it back before supper.”

“No’ like he would miss verra much,” Murtagh jibed, head bent as he carefully lay the folded blanket on the chair he had helped Jamie hew.

Jamie ascended the stair and bent to kiss Bree’s cheek. “I think the only time in my life that I didna hear this old man gripe about his food was when we were at Castle Leoch.”

“Mrs. Fitz’s stews and bannocks are the stuff of legend,” Murtagh gruffed dreamily. “Got my belly through many a long night in Ardsmuir. Do ye remember the rats, Jamie?”

Bree’s ruddy brows frowned. “Don’t tell me that you ate rats when you were in prison.”

“Only the ones we could catch, _a nighean_. Now – where’s my wife?”

The door to the cabin was open, no doubt to let in a bit of fresh air after four days of damp and rain. Claire was inside, bent over the fire, stirring something in the large iron pot Murtagh had crafted in his forge -

“Anything special tonight, Sassenach?”

“Just leftovers.” She stood, rubbing a sudden cramp in the small of her back. Instantly Jamie crossed the cabin, rested his warm hands on the sore spot, fingers gently kneading as he bent for a long, long kiss.

“Are you all right?” she asked a bit breathlessly, when he finally pulled away.

He swallowed, leaning his forehead against hers. “It’s just – coming home, to our home, wi’ Murtagh and Bree here, and wi’ you…”

She kissed him again. “Oh, my love – I know. How long did we dream of a simple day like this?”

“Too long,” he breathed, ducking in for another kiss.

“Hey! Dinna burn my supper! I’ve been breaking my back for you lot all day!”

Jamie pulled away just enough, still holding Claire close. “Can a man no’ have a moment wi’ his lawfully wedded wife, wi’out his relations poking their noses in his business?”

Murtagh huffed theatrically. Brianna laughed.

“Have they always been like this?”

“Oh, aye – ye should have seen them right after they wed. Dougal MacKenzie had us all out in a party to collect rents – yer Da would tell us he had to help yer Mam collect her wee herbs, for her healing, and then they would both just disappear.”

Brianna snorted. “Collect wee herbs, hmm?”

Jamie squeezed Claire’s hands and stepped away. She returned to the stew; he crossed the room to take down the pottery bowls from the cabinet. “I thought I was a canty lad, that the men didna ken what we were doing.”

“All right – soup’s on.”

Murtagh, Jamie, and Bree all materialized at Claire’s side as she ladled stew into their bowls. Jamie went first, set the bowl down on the table, then returned with another bowl, for Claire’s portion.

They sat around the table. Jamie said the blessing, and together they ate.

“You know,” Brianna remarked after a while. “You should put in some kind of screen around the fire. Don’t want to give those sparks any more of a reason to jump out and burn this place down.”

“Do ye really trust that newspaper article, Jamie?”

Jamie briefly glanced over at Claire. “We havena been able to change history before. Why believe that things would be any different now?”

Bree swallowed. “Mama – I trust it. I didn’t tell you this, but – Daddy found the article.”

Jamie set down his spoon.

“What?” Claire’s face contorted in confusion.

“I found it in some of his papers – after you left, I went through each of his boxes. You know, the ones that his students packed up from his office, after he died.”

Bree watched Jamie’s jaw tense – but he wisely said nothing.

“He knew you would come back, Mama.”

Claire reached across the table for Jamie’s hand. “And of course he didn’t tell me. He knew Jamie was alive – that he had survived Culloden.”

Murtagh’s eyes darted back and forth between Claire, Jamie, and Brianna as he finished his stew.

“I – I don’t mean to make you upset. But I thought you should know.”

Claire smiled a bit sadly. “I’m not upset, love – not at you, anyway. This is just…it’s so much to process.”

“He didna keep ye from me, Claire.” Jamie turned in his chair to look at his wife head-on. “Even if ye had known I lived, as Frank did, ye couldna have returned to me earlier than you did. Where would ye have lived – in the cave? At Helwater? And how would Bree have lived in any of those places?”

She squeezed his hands. “I know. All of that is true. And it’s in the past – we can’t change the past, or change the future. But we _can_ do our best to enjoy the present.”

“I did always ken ye to be a wise woman, Claire.” Murtagh uncorked the bottle of whisky on the edge of the table, and poured out for measures in the small pewter cups he had made for them. “And wi’ every year that passes, it’s clear to me just how wise.”

“ _Slainte_ ,” Brianna murmured as they touched their cups.

The fire crackled, sending a small shower of sparks onto the floorboards directly in front of the fireplace.

“I suppose ye’re right, Bree,” Jamie observed, one hand still tightly entwined with Claire’s. “Can ye help me think through how to build that wee screen?”


End file.
